Ankita Raina thread

[Atithee]

Wow. Finally, something to smile about in Indian tennis.

[Dinesh]

Ankita is up against 4th seed Spaniard Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov, ranked #101 in the world. ABZ has not played on hard courts since her R2 loss against Madison Keys at the USO but Ankita has to serve well and continue her form from her Q matches to make an upset.

The match is scheduled to be played on court 2 today (players are back to Tyler) but unfortunately, only Center court and court #1 matches are being streamed live by ITF.

[Dinesh]

Ankita lost 7-5 6-2 She just wasn’t playing very well in the second set after a lot of service breaks in the first set. She will now come back in a couple hours (around 10:30 PM local) to play her first round doubles match.

[prasen9]

Wow. Finally, something to smile about in Indian tennis.

Not too long though. 1st round ouster.

[Atithee]

It’s to a higher ranked player. She’s performing at least to her ranking and occasionally slightly above. Can’t say that about anyone else in Indian tennis. That’s enough for a smile.

[PKBasu]

Yes, this was a tough field, and she was unfortunate to run into the 4th seed in R1.

[R1] Q-Ankita Raina (IND, 178) l. 4-Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov (ESP, 101) 57 26

Sadly, she lost in doubles too (R1) although she and her partner were seeded 3rd.

[sameerph]

Yes, most of the time she played true to her current ranking of 175+. She looks firmly at that level right now which is not bad in Indian context.


Off to Charleston 100K next week where the field is even tougher.

[PKBasu]

She needs a breakthrough win or two in singles, in order to get her ranking into the top-150 (which, I think, would be a fairer reflection of her ability). Had she been able to acquire cheaper points in India and Asia, she would be ranked nearer 120 now, getting easier draws in tournaments like this, and moving up further. Hers has been an incredibly lonely quest. Kudos to her.

[sameerph]

At $100K ITF Women, Charlston, South Carolina, USA (Green Clay)

[Q1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,178) vs. Katie Volynets (USA,316)

First match on centre court at 10 am local time.

[Dinesh]

This will be Ankita’s first time playing in the Har Tru surface. Katie had wins over Bouchard and Dolehide this year. Will be a tough match.

[Dinesh]

Ankita was trailing 3-0 at one point but just captured the first set TB 7-5. One more set.

[sameerph]

And she completes a straight sets win.

At $100K ITF Women, Charlston, South Carolina, USA (Green Clay)

[Q1] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,178) d. Katie Volynets (USA,316) 76(5) 62

Next,

[Q2] (5) Ankita Raina (IND,178) vs. Claire Liu (USA,244)

[Dinesh]

What a fine win playing on the new surface for the first time. Liu is a former Wimbledon junior singles champion but her career never picked off the way she wanted. Would be another interesting matchup. Go, Ankita!

[jayakris]

That is a nice win ny Ankita. Go Ankita, go, go.... (not in the way Athwale sang to Coronavirus )

[Atithee]

Yes, it’s interesting how go is used in an opposite sense in USA as a rally cry instead of wishing something to go away.